translation of the Bible, completed in 1383, and used as the basis for subsequent versions, was not printed for centuries. His New Testament first appeared in 1731, and the Old Testament was never printed till so late as 1850.

The whole of the New Testament is said to be by Wycliffe's own hand. It can be conveniently seen and compared with other early versions in Bagster's English Hexapla.' Energy and graphic vigour are the characteristics of his controversial prose.

The only other name usually mentioned among the prose writers of the fourteenth century is John de Trevisa, who in 1387 translated Higden's 'Polychronicon.' The translation was printed in 1482 by Caxton, who took upon him "to change the rude and old English"-an evidence of the rapid growth of the language. Trevisa is said to have made other translations from the Latin. Of a translation of the Scriptures said to have been executed by him nothing is now known.

FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

Prose writers in this century are not numerous, and their works contain little to tempt anybody but the antiquary. Indeed, up to the last quarter of this century there was little inducement to cultivate the vernacular. A work, as we have said, circulated only in manuscript; and the learned, chiefly clergymen, addressed their brethren in Latin. The following are the most famous of those that wrote in the mother tongue.

Reynold Pecock, 1390-1460.-The Bishop of Chichester followed Wycliffe in denying the infallibility of the Pope, and in upholding the Scriptures as the sole rule of faith. He also questioned the doctrine of transubstantiation. He opposed the persecution of the Lollards; urged that the Church should reason them out of their heresy, not burn them; and set an example of this more humane way in a work entitled 'Repressor of overmuch blaming of the Clergy.' This curious work is reprinted in the Rolls series, edited by Mr Babington. The prose style is much more formal and less homely than Wycliffe's, being elaborately periodic. When taken to task for his heterodoxies, he recanted; and thus escaping martyrdom, was imprisoned for the rest of his life in Thorney Abbey.

Sir John Fortescue, 1395-1483.-Legal and political writer, author of a Latin work, 'De Laudibus Legum Angliæ' (concerning the excellence of the laws of England), and an English work, "The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy, as it more particularly regards the English Constitution.' These are perhaps the first works that avow in their title the strong English

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pride of country. The one extols the English upon the ground of their civil law, and the other sets forth the superiority of the English people to the French.

In his 'De Laudibus,' Fortescue calls himself Cancellarius Angliæ, Chancellor of England; but this title seems to have been no better than the titles conferred by James VIII. at St Germains. He was Chief-Justice of the King's Bench in the reign of Henry VI., fled with that prince after the battle of Towton, was probably made Chancellor when in exile, returned with Margaret and Prince Edward, was taken prisoner at Tewkesbury in 1471, made his submission to Edward IV., and spent the close of his life in retirement at Ebrington in Gloucestershire.

His Monarchy' was first printed in 1714 by his descendant, Baron Fortescue, the friend of Pope. The 'De Laudibus' is more famous; it was translated into English in 1516, and subsequently annotated by Selden, the antiquary.

John Capgrave, 1393, born at Lynne, educated probably at Cambridge, made Provincial of the Order of Austin Friars in England, was one of the most learned men of his time, a voluminous author in Latin, and wrote a biography and a chronicle in English. The 'Chronicle of England' is reprinted in the Master of the Rolls series of Chronicles. It begins with the Creation, and is distinguished by its conciseness.

William Caxton, the Printer, 1420-1492.-Printing was introduced into England not by scholars, but by an enterprising English merchant, who had lived for more than thirty years in Bruges, then the capital of the Duke of Burgundy, and a great centre of literary activity as well as trade. Caxton settled in Bruges as a merchant, after serving his apprenticeship to an eminent mercer in London: rose in time to be "Governor of the English Nation," or English Consul, at Bruges; and on the marriage of Edward IV.'s sister, Margaret, with Charles of Burgundy, in 1468, entered her service, probably as her business agent. Book-collecting and book-making had been for years, and more particularly under Philip the Good, an ardent fashion at the Court of Burgundy. Caxton caught the enthusiasm, and translated into English a version of the History of Troy,' made by Le Fevre, one of the royal chaplains. His version was admired. He was asked for copies of the work. This turned his attention to the art of printing-introduced about that time into Bruges by Colard Mansion, an ingenious member of the craft of book-copying. It occurred to him apparently that it would be a good speculation to set up a printing-press in London. The first book issued by Caxton that bears the Westminster imprint, was a translation of 'The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers' -"enprynted at Westmestre," 1477. But Mr Blades, the great authority on the subject, puts it eighth in the list of books printed

by Caxton-the 'History of Troy,' and six others, having probably been printed by him abroad before his resettlement in his native country.

Caxton's printing-press gave an immense impulse to writing in the English tongue. In the first ten years after its establishment, probably more English was written for publication than had been written in the two preceding centuries. His press gave to the world no less than sixty-four books, nearly all in English.

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His publications were mostly translations from French and Latin, many of them made by himself. They include religious books of a popular cast-' Pilgrimage of the Soul,' 'The Golden Legend' (Lives of the Saints), The Life of St Catherine of Sens: ' books of romance-Malory's Mort d'Artur,' 'Godfrey of Boloyn,' 'The Book of the Order of Chivalry,' 'The History of the Noble, Right Valiant, and Right Worthy Knight Paris, and of the Fair Vienne:' and some of the works of Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate. Caxton's books are a good index to the taste of the time, because he published as a man of business, not for the learned, but for the general reader and book-buyer. He was a fluent translator himself, not careful of his style, like Bishop Pecock, for example, but rough and ready, following his French originals in idiom. He spoke with quite a courtly air about the rude old English of the previous century, and was sharply taken to task by Skelton for his presumption. His own English differs somewhat in diction, but not so much in the words used as in the greater copiousness of expression and greater abundance of French idiom.

Robert Fabyan, or Fabian, who died in 1512, is usually counted among the authors of this century. His 'Concordaynce of Stories,' generally known as Fabyan's Chronicle, is the first attempt to write history in English prose. An alderman and a sheriff of London, he seems to have pursued literature to the damage of his business; for in 1502 he withdrew from office on the ground of poverty. In all likelihood he had composed his Chronicle after his retirement from the cares of official life.

The Concordance, compiled from older sources, as the name indicates, narrates the history of Britain from the landing of Brutus the Trojan down to 1485. It is most minute in the detail of facts and fictions, making no attempt to distinguish between great events and small. One of its most authentic records is a full and particular account of the successive Lord Mayors of London.—The book was not published till 1516, four years after the author's death.

One or two other names of this century have been preserved. Juliana Berners (of uncertain date, supposed 1390-1460) deserves mention as the first of her sex to publish a book in English. She

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was prioress of Sopewell Nunnery, near St Albans, was-like the gentlewomen of the period-fond of hawking and hunting, and wrote a treatise on these sports. Sir Thomas Malory (fl. 1470) is known as the translator and compiler of the History of King Arthur,' printed by Caxton in 1485. To this century belong also translations of various romances from the French, occupied chiefly with the acts of the Round Table Knights and the Seer Merlin; also the Paston Letters, supposed date, 1422.

FIRST HALF OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

With the sixteenth century our prose literature begins a new era, though the writers are still far from being of any use as models of style. In spite of the encouragement given to English writing by the establishment of printing, some of the most distinguished authors of the time wrote chiefly in Latin, being ambitious of a wider audience than the English-reading public. The high-minded Bishop FISHER, who in 1535, at the age of seventy-five, was put to death for denying the king's ecclesiastical supremacy, wrote copiously in Latin in defence of the Catholic tenets, and left only a few sermons in English. Bishop BALE, a generation later (14951563), a champion on the Protestant side, is known chiefly by his 'Lives of Eminent English Writers, from Japhet down to 1559,' a work written in Latin. He wrote in English some bitter controversial tracts, and an account of the examination and death of the Protestant martyr Sir John Oldcastle. Sir Thomas More wrote his 'Utopia' in Latin. Still, this century begins with a greatly increased activity in the production of original English works.

John Bourchier, Lord Berners, 1474-1532, is known chiefly as the translator of Froissart's Chronicles.' He was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Governor of Calais, and undertook the translation, which was published in 1523, at the request of the king. It was reprinted in 1812 in the series of English Chronicles. Berners made one or two other translations from French and Spanish. As an educated man and a courtier, he wrote without pedantry the best English of the time; and by that time, chiefly under Italian influence, a much more ornate, balanced, and compact style began to come into use. If we compare any of Caxton's translations with Berners's Froissart, we are struck at once with a decided advance in point of form. By the end of Henry VIII.'s reign, we can distinctly see the stylistic tendency which reached an extravagant height in the prose of John Lyly.

Sir Thomas More, 1480-1535, first layman Chancellor of England, author of ‘Utopia,' is perhaps the first of our writers whose prose displays any genius; and his 'Life of Edward V.' is pronounced by Mr Hallam to be "the first example of good English

language, pure and perspicuous, well chosen, without vulgarisms or pedantry."

More's life is well known; he ranks with Sir Philip Sidney as one of the most popular characters in our history. His father was Sir John More, a judge of the Court of King's Bench. Admitted as a page to the household of Cardinal Morton at the age of fifteen, he was sent thence to Oxford, where he made the acquaintance of Erasmus. Under his pleasant exterior there was a vein of gravity and asceticism; and after leaving Oxford he had thoughts of becoming a monk. This desire passed away; he settled down to the practice of the law, soon rose to distinction, was made undersheriff of London, and obtained a seat in Parliament in 1504. He offended Henry VII. by opposing a subsidy; and, retiring from public life, probably busied himself with his 'Life of Edward V.,' till the accession of Henry VIII. let him resume his profession. With Henry he became a great favourite, and in 1529, on the fall of Wolsey, was made Chancellor. A stanch adherent to the Church of Rome, he is said to have practised in his chancellorship severities against the Reformers very inconsistent with the theory of the 'Utopia.' When Henry broke with Rome, the Chancellor would not follow him, and suffered death rather than take an oath affirming the validity of the King's marriage with Anne Boleyn. He was beheaded in 1535, acting up to his Utopian precept that a man should meet death with cheerfulness.

The Utopia,' written, as we have said, in Latin, was first printed in 1516 at Louvain. His principal English work is the 'Life and Reign of Edward V. and of his Brother, and of Richard III,' our first prose composition worthy of the title of history. He was also a voluminous writer of controversy, publishing more than 1000 pages folio against Tyndale; and a letter to his wife that has chanced to be preserved is often quoted.

The Utopia,' though written in Latin, is always reckoned as an English work, and is the chief support of More's place in English literature. The dramatic setting of the work is done with great ingenuity and humorous circumstantiality. More professes to be only a transcriber; he simply writes down what he remembers of a conversation with a restless traveller, Raphael Hythloday. Ralph had met in his travels with the commonwealth of Utopia (Nowhere), and More draws him out to give an account of it. Ralph is thus an earlier Teufelsdroeckh, as Utopia is an earlier Weissnichtwo. Under the dramatic guise, disclaiming all responsibility for the opinions, More utters freely political advice that might have been unpalatable but for its witty accompaniments of time, place, and circumstance.

The work is full of graphic personal descriptions, and of humour that has a freshness almost unique after such a lapse of time.

As